The cutest little cast

Symeon had is "real" cast put on this week and gosh it is just so darn cute.  It is this tiny little thing that he barely seems to notice.  Surprisingly he did not want anyone to sign if for several days but now he has let me draw a few sports emblems and he has let our family sign it but that is it.  I keep asking him if people can sign it and he says no names Mommy.  So no names it is.  He chose an orange cast for the Flyers colors so although they disappointed he seems pretty happy with his choice. 

Our children have so much to teach us...

I truly believe that my children have so much to teach me and I pray often that I am always open to learning from them.  Well this week Symeon taught me a few hard lessons. 

First we were watching Clifford the Big Red Dog and the lesson was not to judge someone before you really get to know them because you have some sort of preconceived idea of what they are about or what they can "bring" to the table.  Well this hit me like a ton of bricks.  I have been struggling with a life situation and I realized this is exactly what I have been doing but I have been dressing it up as critical thinking and all other sorts of pretty adult wrapping that I use.  So really I have been judging someone before I have given them a chance.  So thanks Clifford the Big Red Dog this Mama needed to hear it plain and simple, play nice.

Next I am working on teaching Symeon that we need to share.  So we practice sharing as a family and talk about it often.  In general he does really well but every once in awhile I say Symeon we need to share and he disagrees and a small battle ensues.  So this week I was enjoying something and Symeon very politely asked me for some and you know what, I did not want to share it with him and I hesitated a bit.  He looked up at me and very nicely said Mommy share and put out his small hand.  OK so I did not throw myself down on the ground although I kind of wanted to but rather I shared with him.  Thanks Symeon for helping Mommy learn the age old lesson of sharing.

When I am going to the bathroom Symeon usually wants to join me so I have been working with him that it is really important to give people privacy.  So sometimes I say Symeon Mommy needs privacy right now then you can join Mommy.  He takes it well on  most occasions.  So the other day he opened our apartment door and was headed out into the hallway when I said Symeon where are you going and I went to grab the door.  He looked up at me and said privacy Mommy and proceeded to close the door in my face.   I was stunned and then I began to bust out laughing.  I then went into the hallway and brought him back inside.  It felt good to know he is learning and applying what he is learning to life but I guess I just figured he would use these teachings on someone else besides me.

Finally and this one is the most embarrassing because I think all I learned is that I can be pretty immature especially when I am tired.  Symeon was saying Mommy about a 100 times over and over in this whiny annoying voice while I was trying to get something for work done really quickly on my computer.  He was standing at my elbow and he was driving me crazy but I was in a time crunch so I had to ignore a bit more than I would have liked.  Finally I was finished and he climbed up in my chair and I looked at him and began to annoy him calling his name etc and he was annoyed and I said gosh that did not feel very good did it.  I looked up to see Shawn looking at me and I said I am so mature huh?  We both busted out laughing and I apologized to Symeon and he apologized to me.  Gosh I can be a really big whiny complaining jerk of a Mother sometimes but the beauty was that Symeon did not hesitate to forgive me so I guess I am doing ok with him on some level.

Thank you Symeon for all the lessons you taught me this week.  I am a better Mom and person because God gave you to me.  I look forward to the many more things you will teach me throughout our lives together. 

Flyers Photo Shoot

We bought the kids matching Flyers tee shirts and Shawn was trying to get them to pose together.  Here are the highlights from the photo shoot. 

 Ok Marin is ready but where is Symeon?  

Ok Symeon is ready but Marin has had some sort of traumatic experience that makes her unable to get her picture taken.  

Ok so finally  both of them but now neither of them are in the picture taking mood but at least they are both there showing off their shirts and somewhat close to one another. 

No words needed...

Stanley Cup

Although the Stanley Cup playoffs ended badly for our team the Flyers we still had a lot of fun as a family cheering them on.  Shawn and I were able to attend the semi-final game that the Flyers won and sent them into the playoffs.   It has been awhile since we were able to get away and we had such a good time together.  Two of our dear friends watched the kids and off to Philly we went.  Back in the day we did stuff like this all the time but now that our lives are a bit different it is more of a special treat and boy have I missed it. 

One really funny part of the evening were our seats.  As many of you know Shawn has the skills to get pretty good seats for some events and this was one of them.  We were in the lower section close to center ice.  We were laughing remembering when we use to buy cheap seats way up at the top and then during the first period Shawn would scope out seats in the lower section and during the break we would sneak down to the good seats.  We actually never got busted which is amazing since we did it all the time but on this night we were in the really good seats legitimately which was fun yet different.  In some ways I miss our broke days of sneaking down in other ways I really like the good seats.  Either way through good seats and bad I have been sitting next to my best friend and that is what made all the games wonderful.

 

Straws

Symeon loves fruit especially strawberries or straws as he calls them so I decided to take him strawberry picking this year.  We had a nice cool morning, not very busy, and tons of beautiful red strawberries.  He was ready for work with his green frog boots, baseball hat, and a bucket.  We had a great time and Symeon good not believe his good fortune straws as far as the eyes could see.  When we were finished and as we were walking back to the car he said ohhhh Mommy and was rubbing his belly.  I think a few to many straws were consumed that day.  Although I forgot my camera when we went to pick I did snap a few shots when we returned home with our goodies.

This is what his face looked like when we went to pay.  What could I say except may be you should have weighed him since I could not say I don't think he ate any strawberries.  

Oh the beauty of strawberry juice running down your arm!

Brother Sister love

During the first few months of Marin's life I never thought I would see the day where they would tolerate each other never mind love each other but there are so many days where love is abounding between the two of them.  When Marin wakes up from her nap Symeon runs in to her room and says "Hi Babes" and she smiles so sweet.  The other day in the car Symeon said Mom and I turned around to see them holding hands talk about melt a Mom's heart.  Tonight when I was putting Marin to bed I told her to give brother loves and she walked over to him and they hugged each other for a moment and Symeon said, "Good night Babes" and then he found her purple monkey gave it to her and she toddled off to bed.  I teared up a bit thinking how beautiful it is that they have each other.  Here are a few pictures of these sweet amazing brother sister duo. 

Symeon's 1st Bike

Symeon loves bikes and since the weather has been so nice we bought him his first bike.  He loves it and is really good at pedaling and using his feet to push himself around.  The first night Shawn put it together he wanted us to put it in his crib with him but it was just to big so he settled for having it parked next to his crib for several nights.  Here is the progression of the bike until it reached its full put together glory. 

The initial set up

Quality control or upper management watching to make sure it is done right

Oh the utter joy of your first bike!

Sharing that bike with one of your favorite people!  He pushed back on his seat and said to me "Mom Babes bike please"  she was only to happy to oblige and around them went.  It was so sweet.

Smooothies

Symeon loves smoothies so here we are one night this week enjoying them together. 

I was taking a picture of Daddy and Symeon enjoying their smoothies and ...

when I turned back to Marin this is what I found.

Bounce House Break

Symeon loves bounce house but yesterday at a friends picnic he had a bit of an accident and broke his arm!  He managed it quite well and was quite the trooper through it all.  I peeked in the bounce house and he was on his knees crying for me.   I told him to crawl to me and with some help from a friend he came over to me.  I pulled him out and asked where his boo boo was and he pointed to his arm.  When I looked down I realized his arm seemed to be hanging a bit funny and he was holding it to his body.  At this point he was kind of sobbing and he said he wanted to leave and he did not want to go back in the bounce house so I knew he was in pain.

I held him for awhile and then had our friends sister who is a nurse look at it and she confirmed what I knew and we headed to the ER.  Symeon was great and we were at the hospital about 45 minutes from start to finish.  He was smiling and laughing with the nurses and he let the x-ray tech move his arm all over and turn it without even wincing so I figured or it can't be broken but when they looked at the films it was.  He now has a temporary cast until we see an pediatric orthopedic doctor this week.  Everyone once in awhile he tells me he wants to take it off and it took him about 10 minutes to figure out he probably can get it off if he wants but overall he is managing well and honestly it has not slowed him down one bit.

On Symeon's second birthday Shawn and I were both saying how amazed we were that he had not broken anything yet, for as much as he climbs we both feel pretty good that it has taken this long.  I must confess it was hard to watch my little guys suffering and not be able to help him.  I do feel so blessed that Symeon has an amazing pain tolerance and he was never hysterical or inconsolable true to his nature he took it all in stride and I think he actually found his time in the ER to be quite an adventure.   

So here is a picture of our dear sweet guy with his big old cast I will add more pictures next week when he gets his "real" one.

The cast goes up to his shoulder so he can't twist his arm at all.   The break is about an inch above his wrist and even my untrained eye can see it on his x-rays. 

Marin's Hair

Marin's hair is at this wild stage where it is not short but it is also not long.  It is right in the middle which is shaggy yet it fits her.  Our friend was over the other night and she said I love the way Marin's hair flips out at her ears and I thought you mean how she looks disheveled and unkempt pretty much all the time and then I looked at her beautiful corn silk blonder hair and I thought you are right it is perfect. 

So here it is in all of its glory

ahh the classic bangs in the eyes look

oh the one side sticks out and the other doesn't

the infamous colick

this is the one we see the  most, the all over her head look

impaired vision hair

another classic my hear looks a bit greasy even if I just had it washed look

but honestly she still looks good....

Celebrating Oma

My parents came to visit several weeks ago and we were able to celebrate my Mom's birthday and Mother's Day with her it was fun to be with her on 2 special days. 

Here we are baking her a carrot birthday cake.  Marin gets in on the baking action although we do have to keep her more than an arm's reach away from everything but she will not be left out and she is always fun to have around.  

Symeon arranging the candles

Here we are singing to Oma but I am pretty sure Symeon believe the cake and singing were for him.  

Oma and Symeon blowing out the candles.  

Being with my Mom on Mother's day now that I am a Mother is extra special to me.  I am not sure any woman can fully appreciate her Mother until she is one herself and now that I am thank you does not seem like quite enough.  Yet thank you for me encompasses a deep sense of gratitude for this amazing woman who God gave me as my Mother.  Thank you Mom for the years of sacrifice and unconditional love that have blessed my life and the life of so  many people around you. 

A good life

It has struck so many times in the past couple of days what a good life I have, how blessed I am and honestly how undeserving I feel most days.  In the midst of feel so blessed I have been overwhelmed with how wonderful my husband is to me and our children.  When I am emotionally spent, a grump jerk, crying over something I can't control, when I am at my whits end with the kids, or when I am just having a rotten day he is this calm strong presence that under girds me and our life together.  He takes care of things and I am so grateful!  Here are some great pictures of this amazing man just being himself!

Playing Moose with Symeon

a rare true smile for the camera

instilling the love of philly sports teams in his kids

hugging his baby girl and making sure she knows she is beautiful and loved

lovingly teaching and guiding

hanging out is an art form and Shawn is comfortable to be around, when he is with our children he is fully present to them and it is beautiful to watch

doing the Dad thing assembling a toy, when I can't get something to work pretty quickly Symeon says Daddy and it is Shawn to all of our rescues

Thank you Shawn for being part of this really good life I would not want to share it with anyone else!